Chapter Thirty-Seven: Jason:

His name was Jason. I met him after the written test. I must have looked like a wreck walking out of that classroom.

“Excuse me, excuse me. Are you okay?” I heard beside me. I turned my head and froze. This boy… This boy… At first, I couldn’t put it into words to describe him. I quickly cleared my throat.

“Not really,” I said. “I am just glad to be out of there.” I don’t know why I said that. I took breathed out and rubbed the back of my head.

“Oh, I know,” this boy said. “I think my wrist still hurts from all of that writing.” His Southern accent sounded so smooth. I tried to think of something to say.

“Oh, my name is Jason, by the way,” he said. He stuck out his hand to me.

“K-K-Kinsey,” I said. I took his hand and shook it. Why couldn’t I look away from those beautiful green eyes of his. Joe’s eyes were a beautiful dark brown. Speaking of which, Joe was going to a different school than I was. I heard it was a reform school of some sort.

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Addie said. “I heard he stabbed a guy in a fight.” I stared at her with big eyes.

“You can’t be serious,” I said.

“As serious as a heart attack,” she said. Oh, by the way, Addie is going to the say school I am. She was pushing me to enroll in the program too.

“Um… can you let me go?” Jason asked back in reality.

“Huh?” I asked. I looked down at our hands. I was still shaking his while I was staring into his eyes.

“Oh,” I said. I quickly let go of his hand. “Sorry about that.” Jason gave me an odd look.

“Are you sure you are okay?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “It’s a long story.” Why did I have to act like a basket case in front of this beautiful boy? Jason was just as pretty as Joe. Only, he didn’t give off a bad boy vibe that told me to run. I lifted my chin as I cleared my throat.

“Long morning?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. I shuffled my feet. So far, Miranda was nowhere in sight. I still wouldn’t put it past her to be nearby, spying on me. She was probably planning to do something horrible right now.

“Say, are you busy right now?” Jason asked.

“Huh? Why?” I asked. He kind of shrugged at me.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I just figured that we could go down to a coffee shop or the General Store or something like that.” I blinked at him at first.

“Wait… are you asking me out on a date?” I asked. I quickly caught onto what I just asked. “No, of course you wouldn’t. Why would you? We just met.” Jason blinked at me, looking so confused. I laughed out loud to try and brush it off. Oh crap. This was going down in flames.

“Um… not really,” he said. “A friend of mine canceled on me at last minute. We were supposed to meet up for a post-testing celebration. He was supposed to test into the program today, in fact.”

“What happened?” I asked. “Did he drop out last minute?”

“You can say that,” Jason said. “He had some problems at home.”

“Oh…” I said. I rubbed my head. “I am so sorry for acting like this. I kind of got pushed into this program because of problems at home.” I put down my hands and took a breath. “Yes, I would like to go out and celebrate with you.”

“It’s fine,” Jason said. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was probably still letting me go with him out of sympathy. Jason didn’t turn around and walk away in disgust. Maybe this could work.

“Thank you for inviting me,” I said.

“Sure,” he said. Could such a beautiful boy really exist? I mentally pinched myself in the cheek. Jason was still standing in front of me.

“Sure we go now?” I asked.

“Alright,” was all he said. I followed this beautiful boy out of the school. Maybe this could work. We just got out of a long, tedious test and everything was going so calm right now. No Miranda in sight. She’s really been quiet the whole time. All I have to do is calm down and keep it together. As long as I can manage that, everything would be fine. I convinced myself that at least. Maybe Jason and I could have a special bond. Just keep breathing Just keep breathing.

The real test would come once we got outside.